POMONA – A Covina man accused of killing two young women last year in an alleged drunken driving crash testified Thursday that he felt pressured by his court-appointed attorney to accept a plea agreement from prosecutors.

Alan Michael McConnell, 28, said he didn’t build a relationship with his attorney, who he said seldom returned phone calls.

“It was as if I wasn’t important,” McConnell said. “That’s how I felt.”

McConnell pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in April as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that carried a prison sentence of 15 years to life.

He decided prior to his sentencing that he wanted to change his pleas to not guilty.

Prosecutors accuse McConnell of having a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 on Jan. 23, 2010 when he drove into a tree in the median of Foothill Boulevard in La Verne.

His two passengers – Renee Hardy, 20, and Telassie Dague, 22 – were killed in the crash.

McConnell is scheduled to retake the witness stand today in Pomona Superior Court. A judge is expected to rule on McConnell’s request to withdraw his guilty pleas after he completes his testimony, and after his prior attorney testifies.